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Brevan Howard is now the world’s top hedge fund manager by annualised net gains, new research suggests, following dramatic losses during 2011 at former number one Paulson & Co. According to data from LCH Investments NV, the Brevan Howard Fund, which employs a global macro strategy, has achieved an average net gain of $1.74bn per year since its launch in 2003, up from an average of $1.56bn at the end of 2010, after seeing its total net gains rise by $3.2bn in 2011.

JIM ROGERS: The Government Is Lying About Inflation And It’s Crushing The Consumer (Business Insider)

Business Insider recently spoke with commodities guru Jim Rogers about oil prices, gold, and the global economy. He also shared with us what life is like in Singapore. This is the first of our multi-part interview with Rogers. Here, he offers his thoughts on commodities and the global economy.

The Teacher Retirement System of Texas recently bought a stake in Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund. It’s a novel investment for a public pension, so DealBook dug deeper into the purchase. The retirement fund spent several months assessing the potential investment in Bridgewater, building off its long history as an investor in the firm’s funds. In an e-mail, the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, which manages about $100 billion for 1.3 million employees and retirees in the state, discusses its investment criteria, its history with Bridgewater and the risks of investing in hedge funds. Below is an edited excerpt of DealBook’s e-mail conversation with a spokeswoman for the pension, Juliana Fernandez Helton.

We are do-it-yourself investors. Our favorite hedge funds are the ones that have outstanding long stock picks because we like to imitate these hedge fund managers and don’t want to pay the customary 2-and-20. Most hedge fund managers have more skill in picking long positions than shorting stocks, so we don’t really miss out much by not handing over our hard-earned dollars to super-rich hedge fund managers.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) plans to end a network-sharing agreement with billionaire Philip Falcone’s LightSquared Inc. (SKYT) wireless venture as early as next week, according to two people familiar with the matter. Sprint is preparing to take the step as LightSquared approaches a March 15 deadline to meet certain conditions under the agreement, said the people, who wouldn’t be identified because the information isn’t public. Sprint and LightSquared struck an 11-year deal to share network expansion costs and equipment in June provided LightSquared secure regulatory approvals for its wireless service by December. Though Sprint pushed the deadline back, it doesn’t plan more extensions, the people said.

Duet Commodities Fund Ltd. (DUECOAU), the London-based hedge fund with $350 million under management, hired Taha Ouertani as head of agricultural trading as it expands beyond energy and metals markets. Ouertani, who led UBS AG (UBSN)’s agriculture team before the appointment, will start at Duet in June, the fund said today in an e-mailed statement. Stephanie Aneto, a UBS spokeswoman in London, couldn’t immediately confirm Ouertani had left the bank.

Former Standard Chartered’s managing director and derivatives trader Yiming Liang and Yang Yang, the former chief investment officer of China’s Huatai Asset Management (Hong Kong), are set to launch hedge fund Goldstream Capital in April. The duo, friends since their college days about 20 years ago, are setting up the multi-strategy Goldstream Absolute Return Fund. Multi-strategy hedge funds that invest across asset classes are estimated by industry tracker AsiaHedge to have gobbled up about 60 percent of the $4.43 billion collected by new hedge funds last year.

Hedge funds stalking distressed assets in Europe may be left with slim pickings after a trillion-euro cash injection from the European Central Bank eased the pressure on banks to dump some of their weaker holdings.

Some hedge funds are refusing to join Greece’s bond swap, threatening legal action if the government does not come up with a better offer and complicating efforts to restructure the country’s debt. Greece’s private creditors have until Thursday night to decide whether to take part in a bond swap, aimed at avoiding a disorderly default that would drag other countries further into the euro zone crisis. But several hedge funds are expected to hold out, having bought up small amounts of foreign-governed Greek bonds, estimated to be about 10 percent of the 200 billion euros being restructured.

A hedge fund is accusing a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications Inc. of improperly moving $656 million to its debt-laden parent, which is owned by private-equity giants Bain Capital Partners and Thomas H. Lee Capital Partners. The cash transfers, which were fully disclosed, were made from billboard company Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc. The company is 89% owned by Clear Channel Communications, with the rest owned by public shareholders.

The word on the street is that hedge funds are heading south. But are they? More importantly, should they leave Wall Street behind? Richard C. Wilson (of the Hedge Fund Group, Family Offices Group, and HedgeFundBlogger.com) weighed in on the matter this week, telling StreetID that Florida would be wise to increase its presence in the hedge fund world.

Texas financier R. Allen Stanford was convicted on Tuesday on 13 of 14 counts of fraud in connection with a $7 billion Ponzi scheme. Three years had elapsed between Stanford’s being accused of the hedge fund fraud—which involved 30,000 investors in 113 countries—and Today’s decision.

Carl Icahn’s sale of his shares in Motorola Solutions and the departure of his handpicked board member do not mean the telecom company will no longer feel the same intense heat to maximize shareholder value.

The first time John Paulson tried to hold a fundraiser for presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Hurricane Irene was barreling up the Atlantic coast. Paulson’s $41 million Southampton estate was decked out last August for what would have been a glittering affair, but the fundraiser had to be postponed until the following weekend.